Words Across Time

Words linger. Whether it is audible, something spoken to us or something we read, words linger in our minds and stick like glue. Words are one of the few things that set us apart from all the other animals and living things, we can speak. Is it any wonder that the memory of a mother’s soft coo can so strongly calm and send us to the kitchen for a cup of coco or that the memory of a scolding can set us trembling? Words are positive, negative or neutral; neutral words have little effect but words of a positive or negative nature can lift up and inspire or tear down and destroy. In a sense, they are our strongest power and thus the power of words move with us across time.

St. Catherine

Christine de Pisan

Whether I am reading the Bible or an ancient manuscript crafted out a thousand or more years ago by isolated monks on some remote island or a contemporary twentieth century author who has now passed, it never ceases to amaze me that I get to hear their thoughts across the ages, that I can still turn to these words for knowledge, comfort and assurance. It amazes me that in the case of ancient writings, that these words even still exist for me to read, soaking in their many treasures. In many cases I have read ancient words that describe exactly how I may be thinking or feeling today and this is an incredible concept. These thoughts still linger through the words. I remember in theater class in college, our professor saying that every breath that had been taken and exhaled was still out there floating around and that we could breathe in that same breath taken by the likes of Jesus, the Saints and other noted figures. It is the same with the words left by them that have now traveled across time; we can still take them in.

It is not just the written word that lingers; the audible lingers as well, in our minds. If we were told we were stupid in our childhood, those words are likely still ringing around in our head today. If we are aware and growing and battling our demons then perhaps we have defeated it and it will end there but if we have not, we may in our own unawareness, pass it onto the next generation by repeating those words to our own children or to people in our lives. This is also true though of positive words and encouragement. If we were given positive reinforcement as children then we are likely to pass on those positive words to our children or to others in our lives. Either way, the words linger and move through time, generation after generation. It’s up to us which spin we are going to place on them.

So much of what we receive in the way of words today are through the media in the form of TV and movie dialog, news, musical lyrics, social media, etc.. Let us think before we speak and be aware of what we are putting out there because whichever words we choose to use, share and pass around, will be there for a long, long time both on the Internet and in our memories. It brings to mind the opening scene of the movie, “Contact,” starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey, with the idea that every sound uttered, every word spoken, every noise made, is out there floating around in space. Regardless of how realistic or not, proven or unproven, I rather like this concept as a reminder that all we put out there does not necessarily go away.

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”  Romans 15:4

As humans with this amazing gift of words, we tend to express almost all of our emotions verbally through the use of our words but throughout time we also tend to turn to words the most for comfort, guidance and even salvation; we turn to the Word of God for as we are told, “In the beginning was the Word . . .” Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”

It is through the Word of God that we live. The Word was the breath, Logos/Jesus Christ, and we are told as is repeated by Christ, “that man doth not live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” We are cautioned throughout the Bible to speak pleasantly and with grace. We are given the Word of God for every need and Jesus tells in John17:13 that He spoke these things in the world that His joy would be fulfilled in us. The word of God has so much impact that the world’s largest religion (Christianity) is founded upon it bringing one of the largest, if not the largest, influences upon civilization to date providing the ultimate example of the importance of words across time. In my latest book, “The New Ageof Christ,” I devoted an entire chapter to this subject discussing Christ as the Word and the importance of our usage of words as it is Christ/God within which we either allow or disallow to speak through us and how important our words really are. 

Begin to examine the words you take in; what you read, hear, listen to, and begin to examine the words you put out; your speech, the posts you make on social media, your work and creativity, etc., and you will see not only how much words travel but you will begin to know the quality of them as well as of your own. It is with this in mind that we can begin to understand how long and how deeply words will linger.

It is often that I wonder if I too will write words that will travel across time, perhaps comforting, teaching, inspiring or guiding others who may read them ten years from now, a hundred or even a thousand years from now but even if I do not, I am well aware that the words I have spoken, and will speak, will at least linger in the hearts of those I love and whose lives I reach each day. 

About Cheryl Yale-Bruedigam

Cheryl Yale-Bruedigam has been writing spiritually for thirty years. With undergraduate studies in English and women's studies, she devoted over a decade of research and writing to women’s studies and spirituality. Author of What If We Are the Angels and The New Age of Christ (among others), she is now teaching and sharing A Woman's Path to Wholeness Through Biblical Teachings.

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